Pathogen
by EchoRose480
Summary: As a mystery builds up around an unknown enemy, and the Young Justice team struggles to solve it, Robin tries to understand the sudden attacks of cold numbness, the pain, the dizziness that have been progressively getting worse for him, and happening more often, over the span of a few days. He won't let it stop him. But does he really have a choice?


A/N:

I do not own Young Justice. As is obvious by the state the show was put in. ;)

This story, if continued, will contain Robin!Whump

Enjoy!

No slash, no heavy pairings, no smut or grossness. Rated for a bit of mild language and some (ahem) descriptive language.

...

Robin grinned as the computer voice announced his name upon entering Mount Justice. His yellow and black cape billowed out behind him, and his thick hair ruffled in response to the sudden gust of wind that greeted him as he stepped inside the gaping maw of what was classified as their "door".

He blinked rapidly against the bright lights protruding from the ceiling, the white lenses of his mask flickering as he did. The sliding, metal walls closed behind him with a muffled clang.

"I'm home!" he yelled boisterously, his voice echoing through the empty room.

He pursed his lips in a smirk, as he lifted up one leg behind him, and reached behind to grab his ankle. He stretched the other leg as well, then cocked his ear towards the faint, yet growing sound of a voice in the distance.

"_Roooooooooooooooooo-"_

Nodding to himself, still smiling, Robin tugged against the rim of his gloves, in the same manner of a well-dressed man readjusting his cufflinks. He flexed his fingers experimentally against the stretched leather, then repeated the motion on his other hand.

"—_ooooooooooooooooooooooooob-_"

Robin shuffled his feet apart from one another, and bent slightly at the knee. He hunched his shoulders closer to his ears, curled his back into a slope, and held out his hands in front of him; his stance was similar to that of a wrestler's just before a match.

"—_iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!_"

A blur of red and yellow came shooting around the corner, what should have been undetectable dust clouding up in its wake.

Robin relaxed his muscles, bounced on the balls of his feet and wiggled his fingers, rolling his neck from side to side and smiling at the satisfying crack that followed.

The blur grew closer, rapidly taking on a silhouette, and then a figure, and then a face.

Kid Flash's bright blue eyes were wide as if from madness. His tongue lagged out from the corner of his mouth, flapping in the wind where his teeth flashed like that of a rabid dog's. The rest of him was an imperceptible blur of color and speed.

Robin waited, waited, for just the right…

Now!

His boots skidded against the concrete as he absorbed the impact of KF's collision. His arms vibrated with the force as his hands slipped seamlessly onto his friends wrists, grasping them tightly. With a twist of his torso, a roll of his spine, a shift of his stance, and a rotation of the knee, he used Kid Flash's momentum against him, turning almost all the way around and flipping his friend over his back in a curving arc.

Time seemed to slow for a moment, and as Robin pulled KF down, their faces met for a split second, one right-side up, the other upside down, and he watched as the speedster's face went from cocky, to astonished.

Then Robin slammed his friend into the ground, hands still clasping his forearms. KF lay still for a moment, lying on his back and blinking up at the ceiling as he fought to catch his breath. His eyes were wide with surprise, his mouth hung slightly open.

Robin released him, and stood. He loomed over his friend, and planted his hands on his hips, cocking his head quizzically down at the now miserably defeated superkid.

"I've told you before, dear boy, and I'll tell you again," Kid Flash tilted his head back, and glared up at his friend in obvious annoyance. Robin grinned, and raised his palms upward in a helpless` shrug, "I just can't be beat."

…

Robin tugged happily at the oversized sweats hanging off his lean legs. A black t-shirt was tucked into them, beneath the rumpled waist where he had pulled the drawstrings as tight as they would go.

He mused on how nice it was to get out of the colorful, skin-tight spandex every once in awhile.

He ran a hand through his wet hair as he entered the team's common room, and shook some of the excess water out of it. Wally yelped at the spray of droplets hitting his face as Robin leaned over the edge of the couch.

"Geez, man, ever heard of a towel?" he teased, grabbing a pillow and whacking his friend in the face.

Robin cackled as he somersaulted over the back of the couch, and landed in a slouched, lounging position,

"Not really. What's this?"

Wally glanced back at the droning TV, and shrugged carelessly,

"Dunno. Some talent show in another country," he waved his hand dismissively, obviously disinterested.

Robin peered at the television, watching at the bright, flashing colors and the unfamiliar language subtitles running across the screen. The contestant looked really nervous.

"Where are the others?" Robin asked, readjusting the black lenses into a more comfortable position on the bridge of his nose. As soon as he had leveled Wally, he'd gone off to shower and change into something more comfortable. The rest of the team was conspicuously absent.

Wally rolled his eyes and jumped up a bit, springing into a laid back position over the arm of the couch. He rested his socked feet on Robin's lap,

"Training, _again_," he groaned in obvious disapproval. Robin made a face at his friend's intrusive feet, and swiftly shoved them off. He clambered up onto the top of the sofa before Wally could reassert himself,

"Why are you here, than?" he inquired, cocking an eyebrow at his lounging companion. Wally beamed proudly, lacing his hands behind his head as he did,

"Said I had a hurting knee."

Robin's eyebrow climbed higher,

"And Black Canary bought it?"

Wally shrugged a bored shrug, and looked back at the TV,

"Not exactly. She seemed kind of distracted. Something must be going on in her love life, or whatever."

Robin nodded, though a frown formed in his brow. What could be bothering her?

"Anyways, I totally got away with it. Even Artemis didn't say anything. I think she was too focused on trying to get a read on Black Canary."

"Is that so…?" Robin replied absentmindedly.

They fell into a comfortable silence for a few moments, then Wally suddenly sat up with an exuberant cry of delight,

"OH! Dude, while you were with the Bats this weekend, I've been exercising my genius in preparation for the weekend."

Robin pulled up his legs and crossed them, leaning forward to rest his elbow against one knee,

"Oh, really?" he smirked. Wally nodded decisively, a broad grin splitting his face in half,

"Got a special treat for Connor. Now, how fast can Wayne Enterprises get some quick-cement shaving cream?"

"Robin!"

Robin turned at the sound of his name, and grunted as he was rammed into by a soaring Miss Martian,

"Hello," she greeted happily. Robin returned the embrace, but lost his balance when she let go and tumbled off the couch and onto the floor.

A deep chuckle resounded through the chamber, and Robin lifted his head from where he lay sprawled to see Kaldur and the rest of the team file into the common room. He quickly stood up and scratched his scalp sheepishly, smiling crookedly at his friends.

"Hey, guys!" Wally saluted, making a show of trying to sit up, and then wincing and grabbing at his knee, "Sorry I missed training."

Superboy just narrowed his eyes slightly, and headed straight for the mini-kitchen. M'gann grimaced in sympathy, while Kaldur just sighed and shook his head.

Artemis glared and rolled her eyes,

"Really? You seemed pretty eager to get out of there, from what I could tell," she plopped down on the couch, showing no remorse as Wally pretended to look offended, "Besides," she grabbed the remote and threw her other arm over the back of the couch, crossing her legs, "wasn't it your left knee that was injured?"

Wally's eyes widened, and instinctively flickered towards his misplaced hand. Artemis' eyes went skyward again,

"Doofus," she sighed. Wally scowled,

"Dumb blonde," he muttered.

"Oh, that's mature."

"So!" M'gann cried, clapping her hands together and looking hopeful to end the arguing, "Does anybody want any popcorn?"

Robin raised his hand like a little kid in kindergarten,

"Ooh! Ooh! I do!" he cheered eagerly.

Superboy, who had been staring aimlessly with a disappointed expression into the fridge for the last several minutes turned to her with grateful eyes,

"Yes," he said simply.

Kaldur nodded, smiling encouragingly at the young Martian,

"That would be lovely, M'gann, thank you."

She smiled brightly at the response, and then twirled through the air and began rummaging through the cupboards in search of a pot.

Superboy and Kaldur walked to the couch, and plopped into the last available spaces. Wally looked partially irritated at the sudden invasion of space.

Robin cackled, then ran forward and vaulted over the couch, relishing in the startled cries of his friends as he soared over their heads. He landed on the ground in front of the piece of furniture in a sitting position, and leaned his back against it, cackling silently under his breath.

M'gann made a startled sound that followed a loud crashing noise in the kitchen. None of them looked over,

"Don't worry, I'll clean it up!" she called, and Robin raised his thumb in her direction, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"Wait! No, stop! Hey, that looked interesting…Oh, come _oooonnn_. There were babes in bikinis!"

Artemis groaned at Wally's whining and dodged his attempt to snatch the remote,

"Do you ever stop talking?" she growled, "We're not just gonna watch any crap that happens to catch your eye, and we're _certainly_ not watching anything with bikini babes."

Wally grumbled, but nestled back into the cushions and crossed his arms, pouting.

Robin shook his head and smiled amusedly.

"Oh, shoot!" M'gann's voice was somewhat distraught.

"I'll be right back," Robin said, climbing to his feet. The others muttered in incoherent response, no watching in morbid fascination at some kind of horror movie sequel playing as a special.

"Hey," Robin grinned at his friend as he walked into the kitchen. M'gann had about three pots out, one on the burner and the other with butter melting in its bottom.

She looked slightly frazzled, but returned Robin's greeting as he walked up behind her.

Robin didn't know how, but she had somehow managed to make a haphazard mess out of a few grains of corn and some oil. M'gann had her finger pressed up against her lip, and was staring at her efforts with an intent expression, as if she were trying to solve some complicated mathematical equation.

Robin chuckled and touched her shoulder,

"Go join the others," he inclined his head in their direction, "I got this."

M'gann turned to him,

"You sure?" she asked hopefully. Robin nodded, and smiled his signature confident smile,

"'Course. Go on!"

She nodded gratefully with a wide smile and kissed his cheek before floating off.

The room was darker now, as it was nighttime and Kaldur had gotten up to dim the lights. The colors of the television flashed achingly bright in the scarce light.

Robin mopped up the mess and turned up the heat under the pot, throwing in a bunch of seeds atop the puddle of oil. He put on a lid, and then switched to stirring the butter in the smaller pan.

He watched the show on the TV as he cooked, craning his neck over his work to catch a glimpse of the scantily clad ghost woman making moaning sounds at her prey. Robin thought she sounded like she had a cold and had just eaten an especially scrumptious piece of chocolate.

The sound of seeds jumping around in the pot had stopped. Robin turned off the burner and reached forward to grab the rubber encased handle.

But a sudden tremor raced up his spine. His fingers went numb, and black spots swarmed at the edges of his vision. His heart began to race, and his hand began to shake. His fingers fumbled off course, and collided with the edge of the hot metal.

The pain of the burn dissipated the sudden symptoms, and Robin hissed, yanking his hand back and clutching it to his chest.

He whirled around towards the sink and thrust his fingers under the faucet, grabbing the knob, and sighing with relief at the rush of cold water over his throbbing hand.

"Hey, Rob!" Wally's voice broke through the din of Robin's muddled thoughts, "Where's the corn?"

"Be there in a minute, hold your water!"

Robin toweled off his hand and fought not to wince at the sharp pain.

He turned his palm towards his face and studied the inflamed redness spread over his fingers and some of the soft flesh beneath. There was no blurriness, no shaking, no cold.

What had just happened?

...

So, this is my first debut into the Young Justice world. Go easy on me. ;) Truth be told? I'm not sure exactly where this story is going, if anywhere at all, but let me know if you would like me to continue! If I do, ye be warned. My updates will probably be spurratic and far apart. Anyways, let me know if you liked it!


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